Immature Maturity
by NewBloom
Summary: Hikaru's cousin, Raiki, at first gives off the same impression  to Akira as what he thinks of Hikaru. Since he thinksof her in the same way as his teammate, he's surprised that she is actually charming, calm, polite and-Making him fall in love with her!
1. Lightning Excitement

Original Author's note is in regular font, notes are in bold.

Hey y'all! This is your writer speaking, I hope someone will actually read this but even if they don't, this is my idea of what it would be like if Hikaru had a cousin. **Actually it's just a bullshit excuse to make Hikaru fond of my character but not attracted to her so that I can make Toya fall in love with her.**

So yeah… I would tell you more but that ruins the point of me writing it. **I hope my writing answers any questions you might have.** So enjoy! Also, if they're speaking in Japanese it's just "regular quotes" but if it's any other language it's 'thought bubble quotes' so if they're using 'thought bubble quotes' when they're alone, they're either talking to themselves or thinking.

**Yes, it's super annoying to write that way. For reference, I do use thought bubble quotes in this story any more I have just left them in within this chapter and the next as a secondary reference until both I and any confused readers get used to using italics for other languages.**

New author's note:  
If I have yet to update the next chapter.  
Which is to say, if it has a bunch of crappy Kira jokes at the beginning.  
Do not be alarmed! I am rewriting this story with my hopefully significantly better than before writing style.

I hope you enjoy!

Hokuto Cup, Welcoming Ceremony.

Toya's POV

I groaned inwardly. Both of my teammates, which is to say, the rarely useful one and the-weaker-than-the-rarely-useful one, have proven themselves unused to this kind of attention from the media, as it appears to being going straight to their heads.

I am, admittedly, being somewhat petty, but who can blame me, I've been going over old game records for so long my eyes burn and I can't actually remember the last time I was asleep for more than a couple minutes. Despite having more experience than my teammates, I do still get nervous from time to time. Coming to a decision I turned towards the rest of the team. "Shindou, Yashiro, I'm going to head back to my room. You two should try to get a good night's rest as well." I commented politely.

They waved off my remarks, paying more attention to the recently arrived Korean team. I would sigh again but it could be for the best. They might as well try and make the other team nervous before their own nerves hit. I decided I didn't need to make an even bigger nuisance of myself and began to quietly sneak out the door, grateful to avoid questions on the way out.

It was only a few moments later when I realized how much the lack of sleep was actually affecting me. Despite my best efforts, upon leaving the main hall I had apparently managed to get lost somewhere. Blinking rapidly to make sure, and at the same time wake myself up, I still came to the same conclusion. At some point in my dazed walk I had taken a wrong turn somewhere, and if I remembered correctly I appeared to be in the area where the Chinese players were staying. I probably should've turned right around and started walking back but as I began to do just that, I found myself distracted by something I noticed. A little girl who looked very lost was standing just slightly down the hallway.

She spotted me however and made her way over, quickly enough for me to realize belatedly that while she didn't have the height of an adult, she must have been fourteen at least. I flushed slightly when I caught myself staring. I turned my head away slightly to clear my throat, as well as to break her gaze, all the while presuming that she would just walk past me.

"Eh…Um. Excuse me" She called pulling on my sleeve to get my attention. She chewed slightly on her lip. My flush deepened even as her thick Chinese accent filtered through my brain. "Do you happen to know where the Hokuto Cup Welcoming Ceremony is? I seem to have lost myself" I raised an eyebrow slightly at her choice of words. She reddened noticeably realizing her mistake even as she began to reparse her phrase. "Pardon me, I meant, that I have gotten myself lost"

She had a slight stutter in her speech and I quickly understand the reason for her blush. She seemed to be ashamed of her lack of skill with Japanese, even though it was quite impressive for someone so young. After a moment she shook her head while seeming to mentally scold herself. She let out a weak laugh. "Sorry, It has been a while since I have needed Japanese." I stifled a chuckle

'_It is still leagues ahead of my Mandarin.'_ She smiled at my words. Her eyes brighter now that she understood that I had no reason to make remarks about her use of language.

_ 'I'm not as certain of that as you seem to be'_ She giggled, a light airy sound that seemed to dance on the end of my nerves. I shivered slightly even as I tried to appear unconcerned. _'Thank you for you kind words however, they are very refreshing' _I winced slightly, aghast to hear that not all had been as kind to this young, and admittedly attractive, Go player.

_ 'I can direct you to the Welcoming Ceremony if you would like, I just came from there'_ I added, trying not to stumble over the unfamiliar Chinese syllables.

"That would be much appreciated" She said, trying to carefully smooth over her change to Japanese, as a comfortable choice, even though it was dreadfully obvious that my Mandarin was causing her brain more damage than having to speak Japanese

I scoffed at her, mildly miffed. She flushed despite stifling a case of the giggles. "My apologies, I just figured that I at least am fluent in Japanese if out of practice with using it." I stopped actively trying to look miffed and let loose the chuckle that I had been holding back, even as I offered her my arm to walk on.

"I am barely offended, I am more amused than anything else, most people are more subtle when they try and steer the conversation back into Japanese to avoid my Mandarin and Korean" She smiled brightly.

"Let me guess, Yang Hai-san managed to do it in a way you did not even realize until later" She stated, obviously having no doubt about the fact. I didn't even bother to respond as she continued her line of thought. "You are Toya 3 Dan though, correct?"

"Yes, that I am, might I inquire as to your name and purpose here tonight?" I said trying to appear anything but rude. Even though I felt instinctively that she would likely avoid my questions.

"Why I am a Go player of course" She said skilfully dodging the first question. "I will be participating for China in both the individual tournament and the scramble tournament"

"Scramble Tournament?" Came my confused response, even as my eyebrows wrinkled in the center. Sleepiness notwithstanding, I was ninety percent certain I had never heard of such a thing.

"Did your team leader not tell you?" She paused surprised. "After both the team and individual tournaments have been completed, all those who competed in the individual become team captains, replacing the other captain in cases where they are not the first board in the team competition. From there they choose the rest of their team from the remaining six professionals, based on who's lot is drawn first. The only rules for choosing is that each team must have at least one member from each country, and that you can't choose two second boards unless they are all that remains" She sighed. "You and Yong Ha have a major advantage however, in that you will have a chance to better evaluate the other games then I, an outsider, will"

Finally the curiosity was too much for me. "And might I ask again what your name is?" I tried to keep an even and polite tone to my voice but a slightly grumpy sleep-deprived edge had managed to find its way into my voice.

She grinned apologetically. "Sorry, In my hurry to explain the Scramble tournament, the question completely slipped my brain" She responded in a way that made it clear that she had not forgotten at all but rather hoped I had. She turned and offered me her hand in a handshake before seeming to remember that I was Japanese and bowing instead. "My name is Raiki Shindou 6 Dan"

She noticed the door labelled Hokuto Cup and bowed again to me. "Thank you for bringing me here, sorry to disappear but I need to find my..." She paused looking for the word. "Coworkers" She said finally laughing as she entered into the main hall. I however was frozen to the spot. Shindou?!

Raiki's POV

I found myself still laughing as I walked through the door. That was both awkward and amusing. The way he looked at me, it's like he thought I was some creature from some foreign planet, I mean seriously, sure female pros are less common but still. I'm certainly glad that I waited to tell him my name though, he would not have been very good company or directions if he had frozen up earlier in our conversation. Besides which one can only be stared at for so long before it becomes uncomfortable. Hint- It doesn't take much time.

I shook my head to clear it off the topic, it wasn't important how Toya Akira chose to look at me. All that was important right now is showing my face here, giving a polite 'thank you for having us' when they call me to the stage, and hopefully falling into on my bed and not the floor.

'_Hey, Yang Hai, Did the Le Ping guy show up?'_ I decided to leave the topic of my directions alone; I was weirded out enough without having to retell the story to them. Regardless speaking was uncomfortable enough with how much my team leader made me feel dwarfed. I shot a small glare up at Yang Hai, even as he pretended not to notice since he was fully well aware of what it was for. Despite his attempt to convince me that height is genetic and he shouldn't be punished for that, I remain firm in my stance that the very least he could do is not lean over me quite so much.

'_Yes, he did, he's over with Isumi-san and the Japanese team, care for me to take you over there and introduce you to him?' _I thought of my awkward conversation with Toya Akira and paused. I chewed my lip thoughtfully before carefully choosing my response.

'_Better not; Toya 3 Dan was staring at me oddly after our conversation earlier.' _I replied, frowning slightly, even as I cast a sheepish glance at the Japanese team who were all more or less hidden from view by Kurata-san. Yang Hai laughed.

'_What else were you expecting?' _He grinned in a way that clearly said he knew something I didn't. _'I mean, Hikaru Shindou is on that team, he's your cousin isn't he?'_ My train of thought froze in place before reversing quickly.

"Hikaru?! I didn't know he became a professional player." I said surprised, even more surprised by my reflexive use of Japanese. "I didn't even know he knew how to play Go, he was never interested when we were little." I tried to stand on my toes, but even then, being of small stature, I couldn't see over the older men crowding around the room. Yang Hai looked on me and taking pity lifted me up high enough to see over the others. I smacked him a couple times for good measure even as I squealed at him. "I'm wearing a dress for heaven's sake, you can't jus-" I froze midsentence, completely forgetting what I was saying as I spotted a familiar head of black and white hair, being Hikaru and his stupid highlights.

When I finally located my cousin, he was in the corner talking intently with Toya, however, as it was my cousin who I had not seen in years I didn't give a damn whether Toya was there. Yang Hai put me down and walked as quickly as I could over to my cousin, afraid of ripping not only my tight dress, but also of breaking my new high heels. I didn't even pause when I got there though, just gave him a great big hug. "Raiki?" He said surprised "Toya mentioned that a Shindou was here but I didn't think it would be you, Man it's been a while" He seemed more than a little half-dazed even as he sub-consciously hugged me back.

I nodded my agreement. "Nine years" I responded. "Give or take a couple months" I paused and frowning, measured my height against his and frowned even deeper. "It is so good to see you! When did you get taller than me? That is not unfair!" I cried in frustration.

Yang Hai walked up and ruffled my hair as I glared at him. "Sorry about that, she has a bit of inferiority complex when she's shorter then people" He said trying to defend Hikaru from further confusion even as I smacked his arm again.

"Don't touch my hair, I spent a lot of time on it this evening." I said as I pulled out a small mirror to try and fix the damage. I re-applied my lip gloss while I was at it.

Toya rolled his eyes. Finally gaining composure he turned to me. "What kind of person cares more about her hair then being told she has an inferiority complex?" He said curious. He scoffed a little even as I levelled a glare at him.

"The reasonable one who recognizes her own inferiority complex and wants to not waste the time she put into getting ready by allowing herself to be seen disheveled anyways." I muttered in pretend annoyance, despite flashing a grin a moment later.

He chuckled a little at that

Eager to regain my attention; Hikaru started speaking. "I can't believe it's really you, I had completely forgotten that you played Go"

I rolled my eyes in response. "At least you knew that I played Go, I never expected to see you of all people end up a professional Go player" He stuck his tongue out very slightly at me.

"Speaking of, do you mind me asking how long you've been a pro?" Toya interjected. "You said that you were a 6 dan but you can't be much older than 14"

I smiled in response, used to the question, but prepared to savour the amazement that always occurred when people realized that I had told the truth "Six years ago" I laughed slightly. "One year for each Dan. Before that, I was a Chinese insei for three years before attempting the exam," I finished, enjoying the impressed look on the faces around me. "Well, it was wonderful to meet you Toya-san, and it is always incredible to see you Hikaru but I should probably get back to my the rest of my team, I fear without Yang-Hai-san and I, their ability to communicate with people who speak japanese drops sharply." I said smiling despite knowing my teammates would argue against the statement. With a smile I turned fully intending to go back to my team before I was greeted by a large shock.

"GROWN UP LE PING?" I yelled, even as I could hear my teammates laughing from across the room. I shook my head to clear it "Of course, sorry for that, You must be Waya-san, Isumi-san's friend, he mentioned that you looked like Le Ping, I just didn't realize how much you might actually look like him." I offered him a hand to shake, a very western thing to do. "Raiki Shindou 6 Dan." The look of surprise on his face was almost equal to the one I had a moment previous.

He looked back and forth between me and Hikaru multiple times. "Are you two related? And how come you speak Japanese so well?"

Seeing them begin to queue the first boards up to introduce themselves I hurried my answers. "Yes we are related, Cousins if you're wondering, I speak Japanese so well because I am Japanese, I just live in China, Admittedly I haven't lived in Japan since I was six but that's hardly important since I come back yearly to do the Dan games. It was a pleasure meeting you." I finished even as Toya and I were hurried towards the stage.

I was looking forward to getting to know both Toya and the rest of the japanese team better during my stay here.


	2. 15 and a half moku

Hey! Enjoy! Keep in mind italics is a different language, it's also used for Akira's dream in this chapter.

**Akira's POV**

"_Akira, Akiraaaaaa, Akiiiiiiiira, Aaaaaaakira, A Ki Ra, Aki Ra, A Kira" She gasped abruptly "OMYGOD KIRA! TOUYA IS A MURDERER!"_

_The boy in question sighed and shook his head. He was getting tired of her antics, they were playing go after all, and he was trying to concentrate. He calmly placed a stone on the goban capturing her pieces in one area._

"_Omygod! Touya killed my pieces!" She cried, he barely noticed that she had already played her piece. Every time he played and took a piece she cried that he was a murderer. Finally he snapped._

"_I will kill __**you**__" He growled. She rolled her eyes before playing her last piece, effectively ending the game. It was funny though, even though he got told that he killed her stones, it seems that he hadn't actually captured any._

I sat straight up in bed, sweat dripping down my back, I was irrationally afraid of my game against Raiki, and I have to admit that that's not a good sign.

**Raiki's POV**

"_Raiki, wake up, you have a game today"_ I rubbed my eyes,

"_Hn?" _I rolled on to my side and curled up in a tighter ball _"Jus' a min...u…"_ And I was asleep again. I heard a murmur behind me and then someone walked away.

"_Come on and get up"_ The voice was talking again. Then it sighed. _"Keep in mind you brought this upon yourself"_ A bucket of ice and water was dumped on me startling me into wakefulness.

I looked for my attacked to see Lu Lee sitting beside me on the bed and Waya and Isumi with a bucket being held between them. "I'M GOING TO FREAKING KILL YOU! WHO GAVE YOU THE KEY TO MY ROOM ANYWAYS?" I grabbed Waya and Isumi and threw them out into the hallway. _"Go!"_ I said more calmly to Lu Lee. He jumped from my bedlike it was on fire and flew the room.

I risked a glance at the clock. I only had forty minutes to get ready and eat before my game, and I had to be at my game ten minutes early. I almost literally dived through the shower. I blow dried my hair quickly and settled for pinning my hair up since I didn't have time to curl it. 25 minutes left.

I ran across the room and yanked on the clothes I had set out the night before and shoving on my shoes. Wearing my Kimono for this game was perhaps not my best idea ever. 15 minutes left. I ran down the hallway where I was lucky to find that Yang Hai-san had grabbed some toast and juice for me. "Domo!" I cried before scarfing down the food and chugging the drink, I tossed the juice box in the garbage and walked slowly inside. 12 minutes left. Which meant I had two minutes to get to my seat, I think I can handle that. Touya was already sitting and waiting in his suit.

His shoulders were stiff and knowing that he was under pressure cooled my nerves considerably. All three games were to be played consecutively. Akira would play first and last, Ko Yongha would play first and second, I would play second and last. I took my seat on the chair reserved for the player who wasn't in a game.

I breathed in deeply and smiled at Akira as Yang Hai-san came and stood beside me, the only people other then the players and camera men allowed in here today were the team leaders. He sat down on the chair reserved for him and neither of us moved so much as an inch during the game, we were watching that intently. Perhaps I'll surprise you by saying that Ko Yongha beat Touya by 2.5 moku, but that's okay since that would be a lie, Touya beat Ko Yongha by a barely noticeable win of 0.5 moku. They had both struggled to get that.

Now it was my turn. I stood and shuffled over to the chair opposite Ko Yongha. "Onegaishimasu" We said bowing to each other, we knew enough Japanese traditions to do that. "Nigiri" he said as he reached into a small pot of white stones and held his fist above the board. I placed two black stones on the goban. He opened his hand to reveal an even number. I bowed to him again and folded my hands and stared at the board.

**Akira's POV**

She had stared at the board for a good 50 minutes. She only had an hour and 10 minutes left of time. Ko Yongha was practically squirming do to his nerves. Finally she placed her first stone at Tengen. Had you not seen the 50 minute wait at the beginning, then from that point on you would have thought she was playing speed go. I myself had never seen anything like it, it seemed that in those fifty minutes she saw exactly what he would do and how to make that an advantage of hers. She took a total of three minutes more of her time to half Ko Yongha staring at the board with an expression of confused astonishment.

"_I resign"_ He said weakly.

"_Thank you for the game"_ Raiki added as she calmly shook hands with Ko Yongha. She had won by 15.5 moku. There was no way I could beat her, I had been right to fear playing her.

**Raiki's POV**

The games flew by much quicker then I expected them too, Although, Akira was definitely more of a challenge then Ko Yongha was. I still beat him. Easily.

My cousin put his hand up to high-five me which I ignored "Gomen Hikaru, I'm wearing my best Kimono and don't wish to ruin it"

**Akira's POV**

'Gomen Hikaru, I'm wearing my best kimono and don't wish to ruin it?' What the heck? I had been expecting Hikaru in female form and instead she turns out to be as calm and fragile as a porcelain doll. Something is wrong with the world. I blinked to clear my vision and offered her my arm to balance on; she was obviously out of practice with her Japanese style shoes.

"Domo, I was starting to wonder whether I should just take off my shoes and carry them" She curled her fingers around my arm and I could feel the muscles tense where she touched me. What is wrong with me?


End file.
